Funeral held for refugee father

Mr Bravo had been living in Leeds for the past three years

The funeral of an Angolan refugee who committed suicide while facing deportation has been held in Leeds.

Manuel Bravo, 35, hanged himself at Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire in September. He had been taken there with his 13-year-old son.

The pair, who had been living in Armley for three years, were due to be deported on the day he died.

His funeral at Christ Church was led by the Rev Alistair Kaye who has called for an inquiry into Mr Bravo's death.

"I think there are a lot of concerns and a lot of things have come out of this that we can ask questions about," he said.

'Long process'

"We believe that asylum seekers and refugees are not supported in the way that they should be and there's also the question about the detention centre and what happened there in the last few hours of Manuel's life."

He said Mr Bravo's son, who has returned to Leeds under the care of the city's social services, had chosen the hymns for his father's service and was finding his place in the community again.

"He's back at school now, he's back with his friends and he's back with the people that he knows in Armley.

"I think he's glad to be back but it's going to be a long process and it's going to take weeks, months and years."

It is thought that Mr Bravo's wife, Lydia, and other child, Mellyu, were jailed when they returned to the civil war-scarred African nation last November.